Get what you want Get what you need
by New Neon
Summary: Sanji knows that you don't always get what you want but he'll be damned if he's going to let anyone keep themselves from getting what they need.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This fic is thanks to the awesome Krystal who commissioned it from me

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The rain outside is so heavy that it almost hurts when it hits him, if Zoro was inclined in such ways he would think that the speed and force of it could suggest that he personally pissed God off. Of course the moment that he stepped out into the torrential rain he was as soaked as he was going to get and so he'd settled for miserably walking home. He has to get back, then he has to change out of his cold and wet clothes, make himself something to eat, shower and then fall face down on the bed and sleep. The same routine as every day.

He isn't even sure what it is about the place that makes him stop. It's a small narrow diner, sandwiched in between two larger buildings, a homeware shop on one side and a carbon copy coffee shop. It's not that it looks out of place or anything, but Zoro walks this route every day and he's never seen it before. It doesn't look new though, so it's not like it's just moved there. He pauses, the rain beating down on his head and sluicing down the back of his neck in unpleasantly lukewarm rivulets. His feet turn and before he knows it he's through the door without ever really deciding to go.

The inside of the diner isn't exactly narrow, it's not cramped, but it's far narrower than a restaurant would be. There would probably be more seating if almost half of the building wasn't taken up by an open kitchen. Zoro can see right into it and the only person working there is a blond man with an apron who is leant over talking softly to a man at a booth. Zoro can't see his face but the man straightens up, his hand on the other guy's shoulder as he turns around and walks back into the open kitchen. The blond looks at him with a smile on his face and leans against the cash register on the counter between the two of them. A moment of understanding flashes in Zoro's head and he looks up at the board above the guy's head, realising that it must be a menu.

'Today's special'

It reads in curly script.

'Just what you need, plus tip. $25.'

Zoro frowns. What the fuck does that mean? He looks back down at the blond who is grinning at him with this smile that suggests that this is the funniest thing in the world.

"Man, that never gets old." The blond laughs.

"Come here, let me see you." He says a little more gently, but he's still smiling and Zoro feels a little put off by it. He steps a little closer and the man holds out his hand like he's waiting for something.

"Your hand." The man prompts, beckoning him with his hand as if Zoro is exceptionally slow.

"You want my hand?" Zoro asks with a frown.

"Yeah. Why? You scared?" The guy asks, tilting his head and flashing a challenging look at Zoro. Zoro's stupid competitive nature slams into play and his hand is in the other man's before he can even get his brain into gear to answer.

The blond turns Zoro's palm face up and trails his fingers lightly over Zoro's palm, peers at his fingernails and gives his hand a poke. He lets Zoro's hand go, closes his eyes and hums thoughtfully.

"Alright," He says, opening up his eyes again. "Go sit down. I'll bring you your food."

"But I didn't even order!" Zoro says loudly as the man retreats further into his kitchen.

"I only serve the special here. If you want to eat then go sit your ass down." The guy says without even looking at him.

Zoro pauses, his mouth open in shock at this absolute fucking weirdo. But… he supposes that he did come into the place to eat. That was why he came here instead of going home, wasn't it? Well, he may as well eat. At the worst case this will make for an interesting story to tell his friends.

He glances around at the worn in leather seated booths and picks one at random, a few places back from the large plate glass window. He walks towards it, his smart dress shoes clicking on the polished marble floor which is completely at odds with the rest of the place. It's the kind of blue veined fancy stuff that they have on bank floors and he knows about that kind of thing.

"And take off your shitty coat before you get everything wet!" The blond shouts at him without so much as looking around at him from whatever he's doing at one of the kitchen stations. Zoro bristles at the insult but takes his coat off anyway, relocating it to a coatrack and removing his keys and his work Blackberry from the pockets out of habit.

He slides into the booth and settles on the soft leather of the booth seat. It feels well worn in, the soft way that leather goes after years and years of use. How has he never seen this place before if it's been here for as long as things like this suggest that it has? He reads the words on the plate glass window, though they're backwards now that he's on the inside of the diner.

'All Blue'

What kind of name was that? This whole place is weird.

He stares past the writing and out into the rain, it's still pelting hard out there and he really doesn't want to go back out, no matter how odd this place is. He's idly moving his Blackberry around, holding it by the face and the back between two fingers and letting it slip out until it bumps against the table top, he lets it rotate as he pulls it back again and he continues, flipping the phone 180 degrees each time. It's a mindless habit but he's got to have the thing on him all the time and so he's found all manner of ways to fiddle with the thing when he's bored, which is almost always.

He sighs and unlocks the thing and the unread email pings up to the top of his list. His prayers that it would just be spam or some office birthday message goes unanswered, maybe he should stop pissing off this non-existent God, perhaps that way his luck would turn around. Maybe not calling God non-existent might be a start.

The email is from a client who is actually important and though he sorely wants to put it off answering it until later, perhaps never might be a good time for him, he has to do it. He scans the email and types out a reply, giving the answers as best as he can from memory and promising to follow up with the figures required first thing in the morning when he gets to the office.

"Now that is the look of a man who hates his job." The blond says, sliding a large bowl down before him and then depositing cutlery at its side.

"I don't-" Zoro starts to protest but then the smell of the food hits him in the face.

He looks down. It's ramen, proper ramen soup, in a traditional style bowl. There are slices of chicken on the top, just slightly grilled a little on the skin. There are chives floating on the top of the soup and a perfectly cut slice of radish that looks like a cherry blossom. He hasn't seen this since he was a child and somehow it looks identical. The smell of the ramen floats up to him in a haze of steam and suddenly he's ten again, back at his dojo with Kuina at his side as his sensei sets the bowls down in front of them. Kuina has a cold and so it's comfort food for her, but the rest of them all have the same and Zoro's senses aren't clogged and so he can appreciate it. It's cold and wintery outside but inside with his little pseudo-family he's warm, safe and happy. Hardly realising what he's doing he takes a sip and it tastes exactly the same, just as if his sensei had made it himself.

He looks up at the blond in shock and this time instead of a cocky grin the man is actually smiling, a small warm and genuine little thing.

"How did you…" Zoro trails off in stunned shock. He didn't even ask for this, he hadn't even thought about it and yet here it is.

"Trade secret." The blond answers with a light laugh and drops into the seat on the opposite side of the booth.

"So, you hate your job then." The guy continues.

"I didn't say that, you said that." Zoro points out, putting down the spoon and picking up lacquered chopsticks. He frowns at the guy who seems to be the cook, cashier and waiter all in one.

"Sure." Sanji shrugs.

"Isn't that a bit of a personal thing to say to someone that you just met?" Zoro points out and eats some of the noodles, they're so perfect that it's mind blowing. He has no idea how it's the same, he never ever saw sensei follow a recipe.

"You're right, I'm Sanji. Now we know each other." He smiles, shoving his hand across the space in between them, clearly asking for a handshake.

"Zoro," He answers, shaking Sanji's hand because he wasn't brought up to rudely ignore that kind of thing. "but no, we don't."

"We should. What do you do, Zoro?" he asks and Zoro is left with the distinct feeling that there is no point in trying to avoid this conversation or get this weirdo to go away.

"I'm an investment banker." He answers flatly.

"And you sound so excited about it." Sanji says.

"You think I hate my job." Zoro responds and eats a little more.

"You do." The other man shrugs as if he has said the simplest and most obvious thing.

"I just had a bad day." Zoro answers. It's true, he has. Nami's on his ass about this one client which he lost some paperwork for, he had another one duck out on them and though they kept the retainer which isn't an insubstantial amount of money it still means he did a lot of work for no fucking reason. That and the whole new thing that he now has to do tomorrow morning thanks to that email. The guy who runs the little coffee franchise downstairs at his work was sick so the whole thing was closed, and that's about the one highlight break in Zoro's day and perhaps he's become acclimatised to an unhealthy amount of caffeine but suddenly going without it has given him a massive headache. Oh, and the sky is trying to drown him. Yeah, it's a bad day alright.

"Uh-uh. I believe the bad day part, it looks like a really bad day. But people who have had bad days look irritable and grumpy, you look like it's just insult to injury and you want to climb into bed and never come out and go back there again. You hate your job." Sanji tells him succinctly. Sanji takes a toothpick from the little jar on the table and starts chewing it and wrinkles his nose in displeasure.

"Problem?" Zoro questions, keen to get away from the subject of his own job.

"Nnnh, I'm trying to give up smoking. It's not going well." The other man sighs, pulling back the elbow of his chef's whites to show a nicotine patch on his skin. It clicks in Zoro's head that the toothpick is a substitute for something to do with his mouth instead of hold a cigarette.

"I was forced to give up coffee today, the one guy who runs the place was sick and I couldn't go out for any." Zoro responds miserably and Sanji laughs.

"How's that treating you?" Sanji asks in amusement.

"Shit, I have a headache the size of Manhattan." He says, rubbing his forehead. Although the headache is a little better now that he's eating the perfect replica of his sensei's food.

"Oh good, we can suffer together." The blond chuckles.

Suddenly Sanji's head perks up and his eyes widen a little in interest, but he's not looking at Zoro, he's looking at someone behind him. His eyes are stupidly blue, tropical ocean blue and though that's the dumbest thought he's had in a long while it's undeniably true.

"I gotta go, but here's the thing. The cost of this meal plus tip is $25. So here's the tip that you need, it's part of the meal so you gotta have to. You think about your job right now and then you think about what you wanted to do when you were younger. Think about where you wanted to be, the thing that made you excited to do. Then come tell me. That's part of the price. See you." Sanji says and walks off before Zoro can protest.

Zoro shuts his slack jaw and turns in his seat. Sanji is taking the plate of a middle aged man who was sitting further down the diner. He deposits them into the sink and returns to the register as the man hands over his money.

"I think you're right. I need to tell her." The man says sadly.

"You'll feel better for it." Sanji answers softly and opens the drawer.

"You think?" the customer asks hopefully.

"I know." The cook answers brightly. The middle aged man brightens considerably and he rummages in his pocket for something else. Zoro watches with a raised eyebrow as the man pulls out another twenty dollar bill.

"This is for you, a tip." The man says holding the note out. Sanji actually looks a little taken aback by the offer.

"The tip was for you, remember?" he says, pointing a long finger up at the stupid sign above his head.

"Still, take it." The other man says and presses it into Sanji's palm. The blond looks surprised for a moment but a warm smile blooms on his face.

Zoro stops staring and continues eating. Maybe it's the fact that this tastes just like how the food in his childhood home that his mind goes to the argument that Kuina had with her father, where he told her that she could never inherit the dojo. She would be a woman and women didn't do that kind of thing. Zoro had been pissed just as much as Kuina was. It was bullshit. He wanted her to own that dojo and he had wanted to own his own and he would compete with her to see who had the best and who could be the better ranking swordsman and therefore the better teacher.

His heart aches at the loss of her, even though he's twenty seven now and she died when he was twelve. It was over half a lifetime ago but she's still left her fingerprint on him and it'll probably be there forever. He hadn't been able to think of that dream for long after her and then when he was nineteen one of his friends desperately needed his help and so he'd taken this job to put a roof over their heads and help them out. Between him and Nami they made enough to save Usopp and keep the rest of their bunch of misfits secure. He didn't care about the job then, if his friends needed him then that was that, it didn't matter what he had to do. Eight years later and he's still there. Usopp is safe and happy in his own home now with Kaya as well, so he's in no financial trouble. Zoro isn't in any problem with money himself, the job does pay well, very well in fact.

As Zoro finishes the last of the bowl of ramen, every last drop of it in his belly now he finds Sanji's words rising to the surface of his mind. _You hate your job_.

Zoro looks at his Blackberry and grits his teeth. He stands up and shoves the thing into his pocket. He picks up the bowl and walks over to the counter. His smart black leather shoes clicking on the floor as he walks and the wool of his expensive suit that Nami made him buy is sticking to his skin wetly in places. Sanji is waiting at the register and watching him curiously. Zoro hands the bowl over to him and Sanji puts it on the counter behind himself.

"Well?" Sanji asks.

"You really want to know what I wanted to do when I was younger?" Zoro says incredulously and Sanji smiles like a cat who just got into a really large supply of cream.

"I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want to know, would I?" the cook points out.

"I wanted to own my own dojo, I wanted it to be better than my friend's. But she's dead, so I can't." Zoro answers, anticipating the cook's 'why not?' that he's sure to ask.

"You could still open your own though." Sanji reasons and Zoro scowls.

"Here." He says instead of arguing against Sanji's stupid comment. He hands over the twenty five dollars.

"And did you come to any conclusion about your job?" the man asks, taking his money and depositing it in the cash drawer.

Zoro grits his teeth and turns to walk out of the diner, sliding his coat on as he does it. He pauses at the door, his hand on the raised metal handle.

"I hate it." He answers quietly.

He pulls the handle on the door back and steps outside. It's still raining just as hard and though he's protected right now from the awning he's going to have to go out into that again and undo whatever amount of dryness he gained in his clothes over his meal. He really wishes that he had an-

"Oi, grass hair." Sanji says from behind him. Zoro turns, having every intention of telling the cook to fuck off but he pauses when he spots what's in the other man's hand. A large yellow umbrella.

"See you." The man grins, pressing the handle into Zoro's hands and disappearing back inside the diner.

Zoro looks down at the umbrella in muted surprise. He turns back to the rainstorm and opens it. He steps out with the rain beating onto the top of it instead of on him. It's not that windy out so he's almost completely free of the damned rain. He starts to walk home and as he does so he looks up above him at the umbrella. It's got a black spiral on it, radiating out from the centre to the edge. It looks a little like the other man's stupid eyebrow. For no reason at all he twists it in his hand, setting the top of the umbrella spinning and blurring the swirl into a vortex. He finds himself smiling as he walks home.


	2. Chapter 2

Zoro is on his first coffee break of the day, which could be more aptly named a 'if I have to look at this thing one more time I'm gonna beat my brain out on this mahogany desk' break. At the bottom of the building there's a little coffee franchise that is on a smallish cart, at the end of each day the guy who owns it just drives off with it so if the building and the firms in it don't want them there he hasn't lost any money. It's a smart idea in this city.

He's going down the stairs as he always does and when he gets to the coffee cart he pauses.

"Hey, Zoro. The usual?" Greg the coffee guy says, already reaching for the coffee machine and holding his hand out for Zoro's large travel thermos.

Zoro pauses, his hand halfway to the barista's. The image of the blond cook with the patch on his arm and the toothpick in his mouth flashes behind his eyes.

"Tea, actually." He says after a moment, not entirely believing the words coming out of his mouth.

"Are you quitting caffeine or something?" Greg asks wide eyed.

"Yeah, I guess I am. Got any suggestions?" Zoro asks with curiosity. He's essentially lived off of coffee at work for a while.

"Hm, Chai tea." Greg says thoughtfully and proceeds to make Zoro just that.

Zoro makes his way back up to his office with his thermos in hand and when he ends up at his desk and pops it open he has to admit that it smells pretty good. He does miss the caffeine though and an unhappy google search tells him that withdrawal is worst on the second day and can last for a week or two. That sucks but it's probably not as hard as quitting smoking.

As the day goes on he likes Sanji less and less. He's not sure if it's the withdrawal or if it's because the asshole pointed out how much Zoro hates all of this. It's not like he was happier before yesterday but he wasn't burdened with the now very obvious fact that he hates answering the phone to these people, he hates emailing about finances and shit, he hates fucking spreadsheets and with the exception of Nami he hates everyone he works with.

By the time the end of the day comes he is fuming and when he leaves he storms out of the building with the irritatingly cheerful umbrella in his hand he marches straight to the shitty diner.

"Fuck you!" He declares, bursting through the door and pointing right at Sanji who looks entirely unsurprised to see him.

"But soft, what light in yonder window breaks? It's the street light and this idiot is the sun… by which I mean very dense and looking right at him hurts your eyes." Sanji says, grinning from ear to ear and gesturing theatrically at Zoro.

Zoro wants to stab that umbrella right through Sanji's eye.

"Fuck you." He reiterates, leaning over the counter.

"Sure my life isn't what I'd thought it would be but you didn't have to throw it in my face, now everything sucks and it's your fault!" Zoro accuses furiously.

"No, it's not. Your life sucked before, and you could have kept denying it after I pointed it out. You did this to yourself. Anyway, I didn't give you that job." Sanji reasons, leaning casually back on a rack behind the counter that is host to a plethora of pans and woks.

"Oh and YOU think that you're so much better than me then?! Just because you work in a shitty little diner!" He yells.

"Own. I own this shitty little diner. Please continue." Sanji corrects, still looking irritatingly calm. To be honest it's the calmness that puts Zoro off, it makes him feel like he's the unhinged one, like he's the one in the wrong.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a complete asshole?!" He snaps angrily.

"It has been said." The blond shrugs.

Zoro is getting the distinct feeling that he's being outsmarted here.

"Hey, you brought the umbrella back." Sanji says, perking up as he sees the cheerful yellow thing in Zoro's hand.

"Yeah, I wanna hit you in the head with it! Here, take it back, then we're even and I can have nothing more to do with you or this weird place!" He says, thrusting the umbrella at Sanji.

The blond doesn't take it right away, instead he looks at Zoro with an amused little smile on his face. He steps forward and puts one hand on the counter and reaches out for the umbrella with the other. His hand covers Zoro's for a long and lingering moment that sends a shiver up Zoro's spine.

"You keep it. I hear there's going to be rain later." Sanji says softly.

"Well! That's… very… thoughtful of…you?" Zoro trails off, his anger suddenly fizzling out on him and leaving him a little confused.

Sanji's hand is warm.

"Go sit down, I'll make get you what you need." Sanji says, taking his hand back.

"Uh." Zoro hesitates. He had intended on going in here to scream at Sanji and storm out righteously and then close the chapter on that whole thing and never think about how he hates his job and his life in general.

"Shoo, idiot moss, you're making the place look untidy. And hang your shit coat up already, were you raised in a barn?" Sanji barks at him and actually waves him away with his hands.

Zoro deposits his coat and apparently still loaned umbrella and sits down at a booth. He realises after a moment or two sat there that it's the same one as before, he doesn't want to feel like this is a habit but he doesn't want to actually get up and change seats just for the sake of being contrary.

His eyes track over to the blond in the kitchen and he wonders what it is that he's making. He wonders if Sanji is making him that same ramen again and if he's kind of a one trick pony like that. Looking at him though Zoro can't say that it looks like that, but he has no idea what he's actually making.

Zoro notices that he's flipping his Blackberry over and over again on the table and has the childish impulse to fling it at the wall. He sighs, his shoulders slumping. He was angry at Sanji only… only he wasn't angry at Sanji, he was angry at himself for not realising just how miserable he was. It had happened little by little, each month getting worse and worse and he hadn't noticed. What was that expression about putting a frog in hot water and it'll jump out but put it in cold and slowly turn the heat up and you can boil it to death before it realises what's going on. Zoro doesn't like the idea of being a stupid frog and he'd just lashed out at Sanji for it. His sensei wouldn't be proud at that kind of lack of self-awareness and misdirected anger.

The stupid thing is that he's even dumber because he doesn't know what he can do about any of it.

So if he quits his job, then what? He can't think of any other job out there that would make him any less miserable, at least this one is miserable with a great paycheque. If he's going to be miserable he may as well be paid well for it right? He keeps fiddling with his Blackberry, clonking it over and over again on the table as he does it. Maybe it'll break.

"Here you go." Sanji says, sliding in opposite him again and Zoro finds his curiosity piqued before he even looks at the food. He's seen Sanji talk to the other patrons, seemingly about personal things, but he's never seen Sanji sit down with anyone else like this.

Zoro does look down at his food then and is surprised to see that it's a burger and fries with a drink. He hadn't expected to see something like this after his last meal and yet his stomach rumbles in anticipation and Zoro has to concede that the whole thing looks almost magically appetizing right now.

It's the drink that gives him pause though the drink is, against all reason, a pinkish red colour. Zoro peers at it and sees that there are strawberries in it. That wasn't what he was expecting at all. Somehow though it's familiar. He picks the cool glass up and sips through the straw. It's lemonade, kind of. Lemon and strawberry run over his tongue and the feeling of familiarity runs through his mind.

"This... this reminds me of a drink that I had with Usopp." He notes in slightly numb shock.

"Oh?" Sanji asks curiously, raising one of his stupid curly eyebrows that Zoro is absolutely going to insult him on soon.

"He's a friend. We were on some stupid road trip somewhere and completely lost, we went into this place on the roadside and they made a drink just like this." he answers. This is weird. Everything is weird, Sanji is weird, everything continues to be weird in this place.

"You never said what you used to do when you were a kid. You mentioned a dojo but I didn't catch what kind. Karate or something?" Sanji asks curiously.

"Sword fighting. It's more technical than that, but it's sword fighting." Zoro answers, skipping the more complex details.

"That's pretty cool. So, this dojo of yours." Sanji starts.

"I don't own a dojo." Zoro answers flatly, not that he wants to be reminded of that.

"I know," Sanji sighs with a roll of his eyes. Or eye. Zoro can only see the one.

"But still, this dojo of yours. Tell me why you're not doing that whole thing, owning it, teaching in it, whatever. Why are you being an 'investment banker' instead?" Sanji asks and makes air quotes over the words investment banker as if they're not real words and Zoro's just somehow made the job up.

"Because..." Zoro says slowly and for a stupid moment his brain shorts out and he can't call up a reason.

"I have another job, remember?" He points out.

"So quit." Sanji shrugs.

"It's not that easy." he sighs. This guy really is an idiot.

"Sure it is, you just call up your boss and go "hey, I'm quitting, here's my two week's notice", it's that easy. I'm sure even an idiot like you could manage it." Sanji grins.

"I'm not an idiot. And it's not that easy, I still have bills to pay and I'm not even able to open up a dojo even if I didn't have my job." Zoro protests.

"Ah, okay. So why aren't you able to?" Sanji questions.

"Because I don't have the right qualifications, you need that to teach at a place like that. If you don't then you could just be some hack who's scamming people. Anyway, if anyone finds out that you don't have one then you'd get shut down. I don't have one of those qualifications." He answers sensibly.

"I see. Is that all of the reasons?" Sanji asks and steals one of Zoro's fries. Zoro considers stabbing him with his fork for that. They're damn good fries actually, they've still got the skin on in places and unlike lots of places that sell fries Sanji hasn't tried to drown the things in salt.

"No, I can't afford to just buy a dojo. My job pays well but it doesn't pay that well." Zoro snorts.

"So get a mortgage, I have one for this place." Sanji answers, gesturing to the diner with a sweep of his arm.

"I already have one, on my flat." Zoro responds. Sanji is acting like this is all just a walk in the park.

"So sell the place, lose the mortgage, take any profits, go back to the bank after you've found a place you want then take out a new mortgage and hey, then you have you own dojo. It's like magic, only not, because it's really fucking obvious." Sanji says and leans back in his seat.

"Are you stupid? You're acting like this is just something you can suddenly decide to do." Zoro says and jabs a fry at Sanji as he says it. He quickly eats it though in case Sanji decides to nab it just to spite him. He's not sure if the blond would actually steal food from his hands but he isn't going to take the chance, he's been around Luffy for too long to take that kind of risk.

"It is easy. All of your reasons are bullshit. I'll admit that the whole thing might be scary but if you really want it and aren't doing it then you're either an idiot or a coward." Sanji shrugs and plucks a toothpick out of the little jar again. Zoro raises an eyebrow and realises that it seems that Sanji is still not smoking.

"I'm not a coward." Zoro growls.

"Ah, so you are an idiot." Sanji laughs and Zoro realises that he walked right into that one.

"I'm not an idiot either. It's none of your business anyway." Zoro responds petulantly.

"Oh contraire, it is exactly my business. This is something you need, and in case you didn't see the menu, that's what I do here." the blond grins like he's just won something.

"You're an asshole." Zoro says after a few long moments.

"Eh." Sanji says with an indifferent shrug, like he accepts that he might be but doesn't really care either way.

Zoro bites into his burger and he thinks that he would probably do a better job at glaring at Sanji if the thing didn't taste so fucking amazing. Somehow his body feels like it's purring from it, apparently this is just what he'd been craving and he didn't even know it. Goddamn cook.

The shitty bastard cook in question is rolling the toothpick from finger to finger up and down his hand like Zoro does with pens at his office when he's listening to some money obsessed businessman droning on about what he wants Zoro to do for him to somehow get money out of thin air. It's that or stab himself in the leg with the thing.

Wow, he really does hate his job.

"I see you're still not smoking then." He points out, looking at the toothpick.

"Yeah, quitting is a bitch." Sanji sighs and sounds genuinely miserable about it. Good, it's time that he's the uncomfortable one instead of him asking awkward questions of Zoro.

"I can't argue with you there." Zoro agrees with a sigh and absently rubs his temple.

"Is your coffee machine still broken then?" Sanji asks curiously.

"No, it's not a coffee machine it's a guy who makes it, he's got a stall. He was there again today, he's not broken." Zoro answers with a shrug.

"But you're still not drinking coffee?" the cooks questions, his expression curiously interested and Zoro suddenly wishes that he hadn't said anything.

"No." He answers awkwardly and stuffs his mouth with burger instead.

"Why?" Sanji asks, chewing on the end of the toothpick.

Zoro doesn't say that he'd thought of Sanji and his quitting, about his toothpick and his nicotine patch. How weird a thing would that be to say? He barely knows the man, how could he just say that for some reason he was inspired to keep quitting?

"Hey, you said that we'd suffer together." Zoro's mouth answers before his brain can stop it. He cringes internally. Why? Why did he have to go and say that?

"So, you were furious at me, came in here and screamed at me, threatened to hit me with my own umbrella but you gave up coffee because I gave up smoking?" Sanji says, his grin getting wider.

"It wasn't like that." Zoro denies hotly.

"What was it like then?" Sanji counters, looking completely unconvinced. Shit. Why can't the cook just accept his word? Is he that bad of a liar?

"I just figured that since I'd gone one day I could keep going. Besides, if someone as dumb as you can give something up then what does it say about me if I can't do the same? If you can do it then anyone can." He answers smartly.

"Oh, so this is a competition then?" the blond says, perking up and his eyes shining with excitement.

"Sure. I'll bet you the cost of one of your stupid meals." he grins, he loves a challenge and it's interesting that this guy won't back down either.

"My meals aren't stupid." Sanji says with a scowl.

"You are though." Zoro answers back and Sanji's expression becomes a little darker. Oh wow this is way more fun than being asked stupid questions and having Sanji try to plan his life out as if he's talking to a little kid.

"Fuck you, mossy bastard. You're gonna be eating your words, you'll crack before I do." Sanji says, standing up and hissing the words in Zoro's ear. A shiver runs through Zoro and he doesn't think too hard about it beyond the fact that he's sure that this will be an interesting competition for sure.

He eats the rest of his meal in peaceful solitude and watches with interest as other patrons come in and Sanji does his hand touching thing for each of them. He doesn't see Sanji serve the same dish twice and it really looks like there is no set menu at all and Sanji will make anything that he somehow determines that the other person will want. Zoro sees everything from grilled mackerel to chocolate soufflé being served. It seems that Sanji only does one course for any one person, but Zoro never sees anyone leave dissatisfied.

Sanji has quiet conversations with everyone who comes to pay and though Zoro can never catch the words it seems like Sanji gives his tips to everyone. Some patrons walk out looking troubled like Zoro probably looked the first time he came out of here, some leave looking thoughtful and others leave as if a weight has been lifted off of their shoulders. When it's time for Zoro to go and pay he takes his empty plates up again and looks at Sanji with unguarded interest.

"You know I am capable of picking those up myself." Sanji says with a dry tone, he doesn't look ungrateful for it though. He takes the plates from Zoro and again he sets them down on the stainless steel counter behind him.

"Do you give everyone advice?" Zoro asks, fishing his wallet out.

"You really are kind of slow, aren't you? What does it say on the sign above my head? Tips." Sanji says slowly and clearly. If there wasn't a short wall between them Zoro would kick Sanji in the leg for that.

"So this is, what, a cross between a diner and a helpline?" Zoro asks, pulling out the right bills.

"If you want to look at it like that." Sanji shrugs.

"Now, your tip. Go and do your sword fighting again. If you still think that pursing the whole dojo thing is stupid after that then you can come back here and rub it in my face." the other man says challengingly. Sanji has apparently worked out that a competition is the exact way to push Zoro's buttons. Sanji isn't the first one to try to goad him into doing something by turning it into a competition.

Zoro wants to ask why it matters so much to Sanji, but no doubt he'll just get some kind of patronising comment about the 'what you need with tips' thing again and he could live without that just fine, thank you very much.

"Sure, you're on." He answers with a grin and puts the bills in Sanji's hand.

Zoro grabs his coat, his still borrowed umbrella and leaves. An hour after he gets home the rain starts and Zoro realises that Sanji's relay of the weather report was right after all. That thought of Sanji is all that it takes for Zoro to pull his laptop onto his bed and open it up. He searches for the place that he used to go to for competitions, although these are the lighter kind than the ones that he was running in before he quit. He notes down the address, it's still the same one and he wonders if Johnny and Yosaku are still there. It'd be good to see some friendly faces again. He goes into his living room and passes by his kitchen, still not hungry at all thanks to Sanji. He stops and looks at the three swords on his wall, now little more than decoration. He wants to change that though. It seems that competition is still good for him.


	3. Chapter 3

All told it's about a week before Zoro goes back to the All Blue diner and sees Sanji again. He walks in the door and Sanji looks up from setting down a stack of pancakes in front of a scrawny teenager.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in." Sanji says with a grin and saunters over to him.

"And hey, he's out of his suit. You almost look like a real boy there Pinocchio." the blond laughs at him.

"Do you treat all of your customers like this?" Zoro asks with a sigh and follows Sanji to the counter.

"No, just you." Sanji answers with a shrug.

"And what did I do wrong, huh?" he challenges him.

"You exist." the other man shoots back. Zoro sighs in resignation. Sanji's never going to be polite is he?

"So come on then." Sanji says, holding his hand out and Zoro indulges him in whatever it is that Sanji uses to determine what he's going to feed him. He really must find out what Sanji's doing this for at some point, but for now he's just really hungry.

Sanji takes his hand and runs his fingers lightly over Zoro's palm before letting him go. A fleeting touch compared to some of the others that he's treated Zoro to. Sanji makes a shooing motion and Zoro knows the drill enough by now to go and take a seat at what is rapidly becoming his booth.

Normally he would be watching Sanji on and off and looking at the other patrons. Right now though he's kind of too tired to manage it and instead he tips his head back and closes his eyes just a little. He's not sleeping, he's just thinking about what he was doing before he got here and also maybe resting his eyes a little. Not napping though. All the same it does seem to be a very short amount of time before Sanji appears back in front of him.

Zoro looks down and he almost grabs the plate up and slides the whole thing into his mouth in one Luffy like go. It is by far the most gorgeous steak that he's seen in his life and his entire body screams at him for protein right now. He could probably eat a little more eloquently because Sanji snorts at him in amusement as Zoro spears and ambitiously large chunk of steak and shoves it straight into his mouth.

"Either my steak is really good, which it obviously is, or you're really hungry. Or both." Sanji hums thoughtfully.

"Bowf." Zoro says around a mouthful of steak.

"Don't talk with your mouthful you peasant." Sanji berates him and kicks Zoro in the ankle. That actually hurt more than Zoro would have expect it to. He makes a note to not do that again, even if Sanji's pissed of face is a sight to behold.

"Hm, so... t-shirt and jeans like a normal human being. Showing up later than usual. Giant bag that I don't want to speculate about its contents. Hmm, did you take my advice then and go do your sword fighting again?" Sanji asks smugly.

"Yes, and don't make that face, smug doesn't suit you." Zoro grumbles, waving his steak knife at Sanji with a frown.

"But it's so hard when I'm right all of the time." The blonde preens.

"You're insufferable." Zoro groans.

"And yet you come back." he points out.

"The food is worth having to put up with you." Zoro counters.

"I'm going to take that as a compliment." Sanji says, looking smugger and more self-important as the moments pass.

"It wasn't intended as one." Zoro mutters, though it's hard to see how Sanji could have taken it any other way. Damnit.

"So how is the sword fighting going?" Sanji asks him sounding genuinely curious.

"It's... really good." Zoro answers with a nod and the pleasant burn in his muscles and the happy buzz from the adrenaline still in his system makes him wonder why he ever stopped.

Sanji opens his mouth to say something else but the door to the diner opens and someone else comes in.

"Sorry." Sanji says quickly and stands up with a smile.

"You're back! How did it go?" Sanji asks, heading to the register with the young woman who has come in.

Zoro continues eating like a starved wolverine and wonders what advice Sanji has given to everyone else in this place.

Before too long a morose looking you woman, probably just into her twenties, comes into the diner and Zoro is surprised to see that Sanji doesn't insist on touching her hand, he just guides her by the shoulder into a booth of her own. She is wearing a sleeveless dress though, so maybe the pervert just has a thing for skin. The weirdo.

Zoro continues inhaling his steak at a pace that would almost keep up with Luffy, but he slows down when he sees Sanji come out of his kitchen with a small individual chocolate cake with a sparkler in it that's fizzing away brightly. He places it down in front of her and her eyes go wide and fill with tears.

"H-how did you know? No one remembered my birthday, I thought-" She says through choked up noises that are turning to happy tears.

"I don't even know you, how-" she continues, her overflowing with tears.

"Happy birthday, it's on the house." Sanji says quietly. The girl eats with the biggest smile and bright eyes. And Zoro frowns. This place gets weirder every time he makes the mistake of thinking that he knows the extent of its weirdness.

Sanji doesn't even make it back to his table before Zoro is walking up to the counter with a pleasant fullness in his stomach and relaxation in his body. He gives Sanji his plate again and ignores the way the cook rolls his eyes.

"So, you did the training thing again." Sanji says.

"I did." Zoro nods with a smile. He doesn't even really care that Sanji was right about it, it feels too good just to deny him out of spite. Though maybe that's the steak talking.

"Does it feel good? Perhaps feels like it's closer to what you should be doing with your life?" Sanji needles, clearly baiting him into a particular answer.

"Shut up. I've actually been competing. Nothing big, just small scale stuff." He says, rummaging through his sports bag to find his wallet.

"Oh? How's that going?" Sanji asks curiously.

"Hm, I got my ass kicked in the first one. I guess I was a little rusty. Now I'm back to flawless wins again. I guess my skill didn't go anywhere." He smirks at the other man and knows that it's true too. If Sanji is allowed to be cocky with his skills then so is he.

He pulls his wallet out of one of the far too many pockets in the bag and opens it up to pull out the notes. This time he had actually stopped by an ATM to make sure that he had some.

"You think that you're that good, huh?" Sanji says challengingly, as if Zoro is going to whip out his practice swords and throw down right here and now.

"I am." He responds. He hands Sanji his money and when he puts his wallet away his hand bumps into a pen.

"I-" Sanji starts to say, no doubt preparing to drop some more supposed wisdom on him but Zoro cuts him off.

"You should come and see. I can't have someone like you doubting how good I am. I've got a match this Saturday." Zoro informs him and uncaps the pen.

"What?" Sanji asks, blinking in surprise and Zoro feels himself glow at the chance to finally throw the other man off balance instead of the other way around. He's definitely going to do this.

He catches Sanji's arm and writes the address of the gym where the match is going to be held and then the date.

"It's not too far away. Get the A train and then you're almost there." Zoro tells him. He pauses at that, his hand still on the warm skin of Sanji's arm and his pen still hovering above it.

"Actually," He says looking up at Sanji's still startled face, "my directions aren't always that good. Call me if you get lost." He adds, quickly scrawling his number down below the other information on Sanji's forearm.

"See you." Zoro says brightly, capping the pen again and strolling out of the diner before Sanji can say another word. The cook manages a few strangled sounds but no words.

Zoro doesn't even care that much if Sanji shows up or not. He'd prefer that he did of course, very much so, but even if he doesn't it was more than worth it just to see the look on that idiot's face.


	4. Chapter 4

Zoro is pleased when Sanji shows up to the gym, though he's an hour and a half early. He spots the blond walking through the door and it's interesting to see him not in his chef's whites. Although Sanji only ever seems to wear the top half of that, the rest of him is always clad in those black suit trousers, the same as he's wearing now. Sanji spots him soon enough and saunters over to where Zoro had been talking to one of the organisers. Zoro ducks out of the conversation real quick, several people were talking to the organiser so it's not as if he'll be missed. He heads over to Sanji who is loitering at the edge of the building and looking around curiously.

"Hey, you showed up." He notes with pleasure.

"I did. I know I'm early but I figured that since you said how shitty your directions are I would come early, knowing how big of an idiot you are I wouldn't put it past you to give me the wrong address and then I'd have to call you and find out where it really is." Sanji says, his lips quirking upwards with amusement.

"Sorry to disappoint." Zoro chuckles.

"I'm sure the people that you talk to are used to it." Sanji shoots back.

"So you're all warming up, huh?" Sanji observes, looking around the room.

"Congratulations on having eyes." Zoro replies smartly. The other fighters in the gym are doing everything from simply chatting to each other to running through stances and quick movements, a few are just stretching but they're all preparing.

"Shut your face you shitty bastard." Sanji retorts and Zoro just grins at getting another point over on Sanji.

"So, you're serious about this stuff then? You've got your fake swords or whatever around here?" Sanji asks curiously.

"Nothing fake about them. Come with me." he says, jerking his head in the right way and leading Sanji towards the lockers where all of them are storing their things. It's a little pointless because none of them actually lock, but it's better than having their shit all over the floor.

Zoro opens his and pulls out two of his three swords. Though three sword style is what he specialises in the idiots who run the competition only just allow two in matches if both opponents agree to it. Three is out of the question. He turns to Sanji and unsheathes the blades, enjoying the way that they flash in the light and the surprised expression that flashes across Sanji's face in turn.

"Are those real?" Sanji asks in awe, carefully reaching out to touch them.

"No, they're imaginary." Zoro replies sarcastically and earns himself a withering look from Sanji for his troubles.

"They're blunted blades for this competition. They're not my main swords, I'd sooner cut off my leg than ruin their blades. Usually I'd fight with those ones but it's probably not smart to leap right into using live blades in the same month that I started competing again." Zoro says with a shrug.

"So you're not as dumb as you look." Sanji says insultingly and Zoro considers hitting him on the head with his swords.

Sanji looks thoughtful as he sheds his coat and drops it on his black messenger back on the floor by the lockers, although the prissy cook folds it neatly before he does it. He smiles suspiciously and rolls his shirt sleeves up. Zoro frowns, it's not that warm in here.

"So, you're going to warm up then?" Sanji asks him lightly.

"Yeah, I suppose I should." Zoro nods and stuffs his bag back in the open locker. He moves away from the lockers to an open space and intends to start warming up but Sanji is still following him. He wants to point out that he can hardly start warming up if Sanji is in his way.

"So... your sword fighting." Sanji begins, looking at the blades that Zoro has in each hand.

"Is it one of those schools of fighting where they teach you to be on your guard at all times?" He continues.

"Of course." Zoro answers, wondering where Sanji is going with this.

"And you really think you're hot shit with this stuff, huh?" Sanji says, and now Zoro is getting suspicious.

"That's not what I said, but yeah, I'm damn good. Why-" Zoro starts to reply but he doesn't even get time to think. He actually doesn't think because he goes from talking to Sanji to blocking a foot to the side of his head in a split second. The flat of his sword is all that's stopping Sanji's smart dress shoe from getting nicely acquainted with the small bones in his ear.

He stares at the blond who stares him back down for a long moment and then drops his leg back to the floor with a curiously intense smile on his face. Zoro frowns trying to process all of that.

"What? Surprised?" Sanji challenges him and if Zoro's right there's a little bit of offense in that tone.

"No, just thinking." Zoro answers and looks Sanji up and down.

"That's not judo, not kickboxing either." he thinks aloud.

"Capoeira." Sanji answers and Zoro's eyebrows rise. That's the fighting style that's all legs and spinning kicks, the one that looks just as much like dance as it does attacking.

"No shit? That's cool." He murmurs, thoroughly impressed. He wouldn't have guessed that the skinny blond was as strong as that but he can see it now. Sanji isn't skinny, he's lean and muscled. Nice.

"Hm, I'd ask you if you wanted to help me warm up, but you're not exactly dressed for it." Zoro says regretfully.

"Hey, I can kick your ass anytime, anywhere, in any clothes. Bring it if you think that you're that good." Sanji challenges and his face turns into this wicked smile that's burning with excitement and glee.

How can Zoro resist?

He swings for Sanji and to his pleasure Sanji blocks him, rebuffs the attack and moves in for one of his own. Excitement runs through Zoro's blood and the whole world outside of Sanji blots out of his awareness and all that he sees is Sanji and the incredible fight that he's in. He doesn't care about his other fights right now, this is more than worth it.

It's only when Sanji sends him skidding backwards and nearly hitting someone in the process that the pair of them snap out of it at the same time and Zoro realises belatedly that they seem to have an audience.

"Well, at least you're warm now." Sanji mutters, looking down at the ground, seemingly disliking being the centre of other people's attention. He didn't seem to mind being the centre of Zoro's though.

Zoro looks at the clock and frowns.

"I've got fifteen minutes until my first fight, I've got to go speak to the refs and my opponent and..." Zoro trails off and looks at Sanji. Part of him wants to forget it and just fight with him, but he took up sword fighting again for a reason.

"Go do that." Sanji smiles and it's the same soft and pleased smile that Zoro got out of him before. Zoro nods and walks off to speak to who he needs to speak to.

He wins his fights of course.

He's itching to get back to Sanji, to fight again or just to talk to him. Maybe both. But if he doesn't stretch properly and if he doesn't shower to get his muscles back in order then he's going to seriously regret it for days. Besides he has a feeling that the blond won't appreciate dealing with him if he smells bad.

When he finally appears again Sanji is lounging against the wall with his coat back on and his bag on his shoulder. For a moment Zoro wonders if Sanji was thinking of leaving without him. It would make sense if he did but Zoro would have at least hoped for a goodbye first. Sanji spots him and stands straighter, flashing him a cocky grin.

"So, you beat everyone huh?" Sanji notes.

"Of course." Zoro grins, stopping in front of Sanji and the post-fight high making him feel happy and stupid all at once.

"I suppose that you're pretty good. You know, for an idiot with swords." Sanji remarks in an aloof tone that Zoro doesn't believe for a moment. He can see the impressed look in Sanji's eyes and if Zoro is not mistaken there's a temptation to spar with him again in there too.

"I need to go." Zoro says, turning towards the door.

"Me too." Sanji agrees and follows him out. Zoro supposes that he has no one else there that he wants to talk to.

"Which way are you going?" Zoro asks curiously.

"Back to the diner, I live above there." the other man answers him and pulls his coat closed as they get out into the cool night air.

"So you really don't get away from your work then?" Zoro teases.

"Hey, at least I like my job." Sanji retorts and Zoro's face sours.

"You're really good at what you do you know, I don't know why you're not doing that all the time." Sanji says after a long moment and his expression is so honest that Zoro's heart stops for a moment.

"I told you that it's not that easy, I need-" Zoro says, looking down at his feet as he walks. He's got his hands shoved in his coat pockets and being reminded of what he doesn't have stings more than a little.

"I know what you need and I know that you can get it too. It's what I do, you know that." Sanji says with a sigh.

"Are you just obsessed with that song or are you really that self-righteous?" Zoro demands, glaring at Sanji.

"What? The Rolling Stones one? Hah, a little of both I guess. But I'm still right. You need this and you can have it too, you just need to work for it." Sanji answers with a laugh.

"But-" he protests and Sanji cuts him off, holding his hand up as if he can stop the words coming out of Zoro's mouth.

"You need that certification thing, right?" He questions.

"As well as money, a place to build a dojo, time and-" Zoro says, listing off all of the things that Sanji is just ignoring.

"One step at a time. Go get your qualification. That's my advice." Sanji nods and then continues walking on calmly like nothing ever happened.

Zoro grits his teeth and follows after Sanji, what's most annoying is that in a way Sanji is right. He can go and get that qualification, provided that they do it at night or on weekends. He just needs to find somewhere that will offer it. It's not as simple as Sanji is making it out to be, it's not like he can just pick up a qualification at the store or anything, but he can still get one. Damn him.

"Well, no one asked for your advice." he says smartly.

"Yeah you did. You order my food, you get my advice." Sanji asserts.

"You don't give advice, you order people around." Zoro argues irritably.

"Nah, that's just you, with other people it's advice. But... since I've already given you the tip and you just had that match and all..." Sanji trails off and looks uncomfortable for a moment.

"You could... come back. I can make you something to eat, if you want." Sanji says, patting down his pockets and not looking at Zoro.

"I'm not going to make you open up your diner just for me." Zoro says in surprise. Sanji has almost certainly cleaned up for the day and done whatever he needs to do with the register and the financial books. Opening up again just for him would be a real pain.

"Look, if you don't want to then you can just say. You don't need to be polite about it. I get it if you're tired or you don't want to or if I'm being-" Sanji cuts himself off again and Zoro wonders what he was going to say.

"I wouldn't make the offer if I didn't mean it." Sanji finishes, his hands searching in his pockets.

"What are you doing?" Zoro asks, and for a moment Sanji looks like he has no idea what Zoro is talking about. Then he looks down at himself and groans.

"I was looking for cigarettes. I wasn't even thinking about it. Ugh." Sanji groans and opens his bag. Zoro wonders for a second if Sanji is going to crack and have a smoke after all and then Zoro will win the bet, but instead he pulls out this small flat packet of something. It looks almost like a bandage at first but Zoro realises that it's a nicotine patch. Sanji rolls his coat sleeve up and his shirt sleeve with it. He sticks the new patch to himself and then pauses.

"Oh and fucking thank you for writing this on my arm in PERMANENT marker!" Sanji snaps and holds out his arm where Zoro can still see the faint words and numbers that he wrote on Sanji. He laughs and Sanji looks increasingly annoyed with Zoro's lack of remorse.

"Whatever, idiot. I'm heading home, are you coming or are you going off to yours?" Sanji asks, turning to look at him.

"Where do you even live anyway? You always leave the diner in the same direction but that doesn't tell me much." Sanji says thoughtfully.

"I just live a few blocks away. Near the river." Zoro answers with a shrug.

Sanji looks at him for a long moment or two and then his mouth curls up into a devious grin.

"Well, after you Zoro. Lead the way." Sanji says with a smile.

Zoro looks at the buildings around him uneasily. That skyscraper have been behind him before right? So it's this way. But then again in the dark the skyscraper that had been behind him looks an awful lot like that one to the right. What about the train tracks? He can't hear any trains so that's a useless way of working out which way to go.

"Oh god, you're so fucking lost. You weren't kidding about your directions. Come on, it's this way. The very least that I can do is take you to the diner." Sanji laughs and reaches forward to tug on Zoro's arm and pull him to the right and down a road there. Zoro is pretty sure that it wasn't that way that he came from, but the longer Sanji drags him along the route the more familiar the buildings get. Damn.

"So... how come you didn't have anyone else watching your match then?" Sanji asks, looking across at the closed shops on the other side of the road.

"Hm, I don't know. It's still kind of new to be doing it again. I figured I'd maybe wait until I got into a real live sword match before I told any of my friends." Zoro says thoughtfully. It's not that he's ashamed of starting up again, he's sure that all of his friends would be pleased about it. Somehow though it feels private, at least right now.

"You told me." Sanji says after a moment, looking sidelong at him.

"Well, I wouldn't be doing it again if you hadn't goaded me into it with your stupid advice and stupid food." he reasons with a scowl on his face.

"Don't insult my food." Sanji says in a voice with enough threat behind it to make Zoro consider taking that advice seriously. He probably should but it's too good knowing that Sanji also has buttons that Zoro can push to get a reaction out of him. He knows that he'll do it again in future, he's accepted that.

"I thought that maybe you would have had... someone come and watch. Outside of your friends." the cook says and sounds mysteriously uncomfortable as he says it.

"I did, you. Or did you forget that I invited you and we were just there?" Zoro laughs and even in the dark he can see the irritated flush on Sanji's cheeks. It's subtle but it's there.

"I meant a date or something!" Sanji snaps out at him.

"Oh." is all that Zoro can say as he realises that the cook was asking that. Why didn't he just say it?

"Hm, no. I'm not dating anyone. The last person I dated was five months ago I think. And the one before... I think that I dated him two months before that. Maybe three? I think it was March so-" Zoro falters when he realises that he just referred to his previous date as male and Zoro looks over at Sanji with his heart in his throat but Sanji isn't wearing any expression of judgement.

"Why did you break up?" Sanji asks with an intense look in his eyes. Wow, the cook really seems to get off on prying into other people's personal lives.

"Oh, he was really materialistic. I'm not a fan of that. He wanted me to make some reservation at this fancy restaurant but it's months to get a spot and I ended up not doing it, which worked out because he broke up with me before a table would have become available anyway!" He laughs in amusement. That was absolutely the last time that he'd ever date anyone that he met through business, he extended his 'don't date anyone that you work with' rule to 'don't date anyone who works in your FIELD'.

"What restaurant was that?" Sanji asks with a gasp and Zoro wonders if Sanji is the same about fancy bookings. The blond doesn't strike him as the materialistic type though, but perhaps being a little food obsessed would make sense.

"Oh shit, what was the name... uh... the Baratie. I think." He answers with a frown. He can remember what their website looks like but he's not a hundred percent sure on the name.

"Hah!" Sanji laughs loudly and Zoro scowls, did Sanji just ask him to mock him?

"I could get you a table there like that." Sanji grins with a snap of his fingers and for a flash Zoro can't help but think that Sanji is actually offering that.

"It's my old man's restaurant. I used to live there and work there with him before I started All Blue." He explains and Zoro realises that Sanji answer makes more sense than that odd thought that had popped into his head.

"Well what about your love life? Or do you only pry into other people's personal lives and not tell them anything about yourself?" Zoro challenges as they wait at a crossing.

"You really want to know about me?" Sanji asks in surprise and his voice is a little quieter.

"Why would I ask if I didn't?" Zoro groans, walking across the crossing even though it's red. There's no traffic anyway, what does it matter? Sanji hurries to catch up with him and his sigh suggests a total lack of approval for Zoro's blatant disregard for crossing laws.

"I... I want someone. But I don't have time and people are complicated and I just want the right person so-" Sanji mumbles, looking down at the floor.

"Wrong answer." Zoro laughs and Sanji bristles angrily.

"What? You call me on it when I'm lying to myself. You're making excuses, same as I was. I don't know why but you're not being honest." He points out and Sanji turns from anger to something that could almost be described as sulking.

"Fine. Apparently the fact that I do that pisses people off. I just can't stand it when people make themselves miserable when they could easily be happy, but people don't like that when you're in a relationship with them. I end up saying the wrong thing, or they decide that they don't like all of me. So… I've given up." Sanji says unhappily.

Zoro thinks about that for a moment. Sure Sanji's utter intolerance for bullshit was incredibly irritating, but it wasn't that he pointed it out that was annoying. The worst thing was that he was right. Zoro hadn't thought that he was someone who lied to himself but Sanji pointed out his own failings. It hurt but tonight is evidence that it's been good for him, at least a little. You can't fight something if you don't know that there's a fight to be had in the first place. Sanji just points it out.

"It's kind of annoying, but if people can't handle their own flaws then that's their problem. I kind of respect that you don't take any shit from people. I guess other people don't like it though." Zoro says aloud.

"That's kind of stupid of them." He adds with a frown.

Sanji doesn't say anything and when Zoro looks at him he sees that Sanji has the strangest expression on his face. He doesn't get to study it long because Sanji quickly snatches his gaze away and stares at the floor.

"Thanks, I guess." Sanji mumbles, looking at the floor and shoving his hands deep into his pockets.

"Why are you giving up anyway? Aren't you the one who lives off of giving people what they need? Just do it for yourself." He reasons and Sanji laughs, though it rings a little more of sadness than amusement.

"I have what I need. The All Blue and my work are my dream, that's what I need and that's what I have. The rest is just… having someone like that it's something that I want. I want it badly, but it's still different. It's what I want." The blond answers.

"That song again? You're obsessed!" Zoro laughs.

"Hey, it's not deliberate, they're just right is all." Sanji says with a grin. Zoro rolls his eyes, Sanji is a dumbass.

Zoro actually doesn't spot the diner until Sanji stops walking, it looks really different with all of the lights out and it's almost impossible to read the words on the window declaring its name.

"Do you want to have something to eat? It's no problem, really." Sanji offers and Zoro shrugs and smiles, if Sanji really doesn't consider it an inconvenience then he isn't likely to pass up an opportunity for the other man's food. He follows Sanji inside as the man unlocks the door and flicks the lights on. He doesn't turn on more than he has to though, evidently Sanji doesn't want everyone to think that the place is open. Sanji turns around to face him and once more he holds his hands out. Zoro offers his up and when he takes it Sanji frowns and looks a little puzzled, he stares down at Zoro's hand like it's a riddle and rubs his thumb over the hollow of Zoro's palm. Zoro feels the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end and he doesn't know why, he's not exactly ticklish. Eventually Sanji nods and lets him go, having found whatever answer that it was that he was looking for.

"Why do you do that?" He asks, the curiosity has been building in him for ages and now seems like as good a time as any to ask Sanji about it.

"Does it matter?" Sanji answers in a way that tells Zoro absolutely nothing.

"I guess not. But okay, I have a different question." he says as the cook heads into the kitchen, leaving Zoro on the other side of the counter.

"I guess you're really doing the 'getting to know you' thing huh?" Sanji says with a glance over his shoulder.

"You know lots about me, it's only fair." He replies a little indignantly, this isn't exactly balanced right now, is it?

"Okay then, shoot." Sanji agrees and opens the fridge to stare at whatever he has inside it.

"How do you always know what to make?" Zoro asks.

"Hah, I told you before, that's a trade secret." Sanji laughs from inside the fridge, his voice echoing slightly from it.

"That's not an answer at all. You've made meals that I've had before exactly, my old sensei's food, the drink that I had on that road trip with Usopp. You even made that girl a birthday cake and she said that she never met you before." He points out and Sanji slowly puts his ingredients down on the kitchen counter. He leans on it with his hands on the surface and Zoro watches his fingers tap on the surface in a high beat of agitation. Whatever Sanji is thinking is really bothering him. Well, if Sanji is going to ask personal questions then so can Zoro.

"I'm just good at knowing what people need." He says unhelpfully and walks off to go wash his hands.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, that's what it says on the menu. Give me a real answer." He presses. Zoro doesn't even know what answer he's looking for but a large part of him just wants to get at something real inside of the cook and this seems to be it.

Sanji sighs and turns around, drying his hands off on a dishtowel.

"I don't want to say, you'll be an asshole about it, everyone is." Sanji mutters and doesn't look Zoro in the eye.

"I won't." Zoro says back on a kneejerk instinct.

Sanji looks at him warily but after searching Zoro's appearance for whatever it is that he's looking for Sanji comes forward. He reaches out and takes Zoro's hand, palm up like usual, but his eyes are shut and his fingers simply rest around Zoro's hand, holding him there but doing nothing else. Sanji breathes out and it sounds like he's working himself up for something.

"I've just always been good at it. I know what it is that people need from me. Everyone needs something and I hate people not getting it, it feels awful." Sanji begins. He hesitates and chews on his lip for a moment, it's probably the closest thing that he can get to biting into the end of a cigarette right now.

"I guess... you could say that I see it. It's nothing to do with your hands or any bullshit like that, that's just the easiest bit of someone to get hold of without being weird, but it's the contact that I need for it. It's not really the right word but I suppose that psychic is closest." Sanji says, looking down at Zoro's hand and not him.

"What?" Zoro laughs, Sanji must be jerking him around.

Sanji snatches his hands back like he's been burned and they clench at his sides.

"I said- I knew you'd be an asshole about this, that's what everyone says if I tell them!" Sanji shouts and Zoro realises that Sanji is serious.

"Wait, hold on. Sanji, wait. I didn't mean to laugh but… psychics and mind readers and stuff, that shit's not real." He says with a blatant scepticism in his voice because there's no way that this kind of thing is Sanji's real answer. Zoro sees the flash of real pain run over Sani's face but it's too late to take what he said back.

"Get out." Sanji orders, and his voice isn't a loud and angry shout, it's serious.

"Sanji, no, I didn't mean it like that." Zoro sighs.

"GET. OUT." Sanji snarls and though his face is full of rage Zoro can't see anything but hurt in his eyes. Shit, he's fucked this up, hasn't he?

"Sanji I'm sorry." He apologises quickly. Sanji turns his back to him and grabs up everything that he had taken from the fridge and shoves it back in there.

"Just go." Sanji says, his voice quiet. The blond doesn't even look back as he disappears into the kitchen and around the corner.

"Shit." Zoro hisses under his breath and leaps over the counter. He jogs towards where Sanji left but when he gets there he finds that it's a shut door and it doesn't look like it's a store room or anything. It looks like the door to someone's home. He hears Sanji's footsteps ascending quickly and remembers that Sanji lives right above the place.

Zoro leans forward and lets his head hit the door. He's an idiot. Sanji said that he didn't want to talk about it because people were assholes about it, and he coaxed Sanji into talking about it and he promptly went and said the worst thing. He was the one who moved the pair of them outside of their rather odd relationship within the diner. Sanji was just the owner who got super personal with him and seemed to spend more time on him than anyone else. Zoro was the one who had invited him out to his match, then Sanji had actually reluctantly trusted him and he'd fucked it up. He is an asshole.

He could bang on the door and get Sanji to let him in so that he can apologize properly, but Sanji told him to leave twice and he already failed at listening to Sanji once, he's not going to do it again.

Reluctantly he turns and walks back through Sanji's kitchen and out of the front door of the diner. He hopes that Sanji hears him leave and comes down to lock up, he'd hate to be responsible for someone breaking in and hurting Sanji more.


	5. Chapter 5

Zoro smacks his head into the top of his expensive desk over and over again. He keeps replaying in his mind just how spectacularly he screwed up with Sanji. He's been thinking about it for days but the shame of it curling in his gut hasn't gone away. What's almost worse is that he doesn't know quite why it feels so bad. Sure he should feel guilt for upsetting someone else by accidentally mocking something important to them, but this feels like more than that. He feels like he's blown his chance at... something. He doesn't know quite what though.

He runs over that whole night again in his head, face down on his desk.

He remembers Sanji's careful question about Zoro's love life and his unhappy description of his own. Zoro wonders briefly if Sanji had been subtly expressing some kind of interest in him. He doesn't know. Sanji hadn't mentioned anything about the people that he had dated before, he hadn't mentioned any gender at all. He shakes the idea off. Statistically the odds that Sanji was inclined towards men were something like one in ten, maybe one in five. Statistics were tricky with that kind of thing. In any case the odds were against him and that was just taking into account the other's man's preference, let alone the odds that would narrow it down further that if Sanji was interested in men that he was interested in HIM.

No, Sanji most likely just wanted a friend. He hadn't spoken about his own friends and Zoro wonders if Sanji has time for many other people outside of his work. Zoro had the chance to be his friend and he screwed it up.

His mind slides back into the territory of wondering what it might be like if Sanji had been subtly feeling him out, seeing if he was interested. The idea of what would have happened if he hadn't fucked up so badly. What if Sanji had trusted him with that information and Zoro had respected that trust. Could he have left the diner after their meal and perhaps kissed the other man goodbye?

His stomach does this uncomfortable mix between seizing up and being filled with anxious butterflies.

Well, shit.

It's pointless thinking about it. What he can do though is to try to properly undo whatever hurt he's done to Sanji. Even if it puts him back in the territory of him being merely a customer, which is more than he deserves after his behaviour, it will still be preferable to not being able to see him at all.

Sanji has had a couple of days to cool off, so at least the odds are that Sanji isn't going to fling plates at him the moment he walks in the door. So maybe he'll have time to get an apology out. It doesn't seem enough though, he needs a peace offering. Something to soothe Sanji's hurt. Not a bribe to make Sanji forgive him, forgiveness was up to Sanji and not something that Zoro could simply buy, he knows that. Still he really wants Sanji to forgive him.

Hah, that sounds like Sanji's stupid ideas of wanting something being less to needing something. That you don't always get what you want.

Zoro's head shoots up off of his desk so fast that he almost makes himself dizzy with the sudden change of blood flow. That song!

He moves the mouse on his computer and stirs it into life. He opens google and uses it for decidedly non work related purposes and tries to find a large enough record shop that might stock what he's looking for. Records are kind of dumb, no one really uses them anymore but it's hard to hand over an mp3 as a thoughtful gift. He ducks out of work when he's found the address, avoiding Nami and using the excuse of an early lunch if anyone asks him.

The directions to the record shop are hard to follow but sooner or later he gets there. The hipster looking guy working there finds the record he wants for him, sparing Zoro the hours it would no doubt take to go through every one in the shop. With that achieved he gets back to the office, getting slightly lost on the way there. Not that it's his fault of course.

Zoro has never left work so early, even though he hates his job and apparently has for a long while, he's always been a reliable person. If he says that he'll do something then he'll do it. He took the job to help his friends with money and he did it, he stuck with it and he came in every day when he was supposed to and frequently ended up there longer than that. Nami was the one who ran the place and she was a friend too, so when she needed him he did what she needed from him. It's what he does.

Right now though he's doing what he wants to do, it's such an unusual change that he dashes from the building, thinking irrationally that someone might know that he's acting for himself and stop him. That doesn't happen of course, no one would do it and if Nami knew how badly he wanted to apologise to Sanji she'd let him go without a second thought. As he hurries down the street he wonders what his friends will think of Sanji, or rather the relationship that he has with the man who runs the diner and the strange place that it is.

He jumps onto his train and considers that strangeness.

He's going to apologise of course, but Zoro only does sincere apologies. He's not going to apologise for not believing in something and then pretend that he does, as if Sanji has talked him around to it. No, he's going to apologise for being an asshole about it, for going against the trust that Sanji had placed in him. But he's got time to think now, he doesn't want to keep going over his apology, if he does it'll sound too rehearsed and besides, he's been thinking about it all afternoon. What he does now have time to think about is Sanji and his claims to the supernatural.

Zoro doesn't believe in that shit.

He makes a mental note to stop referring to it as shit.

But he doesn't, he doesn't believe in ghosts or the afterlife, auras or palm reading and he doesn't even believe in God. At most he considers these things just something that people want to believe, and if he does no harm then there's nothing wrong with it at all. How people choose to see the world is their own business. Things like fortune telling and talking to the dead seem more like cruel tricks to play on people vulnerable to that kind of thing. After Kuina's death he's pretty sure that he would have punched the life out of any psychic claiming that they could talk to her from beyond, capitalising on people's grief like that was the lowest of the low.

Sanji isn't doing that though. He's not even telling people that what he does, or rather what he thinks he does, is being psychic at all. He just acts like he's good at guessing, good at his job and good at reading people, he keeps the whole psychic thing secret. He's basically the inverse of anyone else that Zoro has heard of that's claimed to those kinds of powers.

It can't be real though, can it?

His gut says no, of course not, but he can't help but remember his first trip there. Even now he can almost taste the perfect replica of his sensei's food, and then there was that exact same drink as the one that he had got on that road trip, and the girl with her birthday cake. He can't explain those. Maybe if it was just one then he could ignore it. If it had just been the drink then he could have guessed that it was some recipe that's the same as the one he had that time. The same goes for his sensei's food. It'd be a really weird coincidence but given enough time all sorts of really weird shit happens, it's just a matter of probability, like getting lucky at a casino. But if this is Sanji getting lucky then three perfect strikes like that makes Zoro think that he'd be better off in a casino than a diner.

He can't think of any way that Sanji can be doing what he does. Maybe with the girl he managed to put her distressed appearance together with something else, some glimpse of something on her person that told the cook that it was her birthday. At his most paranoid he could say that perhaps somehow the cook cheated, but that seems even less likely. But there's no way that he could have cheated with Zoro's food, there just isn't. That of course leaves the simpler explanation, and aren't those usually right? It's awfully complicated to imagine that Sanji somehow got inside information on a girl's birthday, somehow found out about Zoro's friend and asked him about a drink that they'd shared and then also gone and tracked down his sensei and pressed him for details about childhood food. Sanji would have had to have done all that before they met. That is a HUGE reach. The other explanation is far simpler, Sanji actually is psychic.

Shit, it can't be right and Zoro wants to smack his head against the train window for even considering it, but what other answer is there?

The train pulls up to his station and Zoro gets off. Sanji's diner is just out of the station and to the right. He doesn't have time to think about his impending philosophical crisis right now, he's got something much less abstract to worry about and that's Sanji.

Zoro hesitates outside the diner for a moment, but he's no coward so with a deep breath he goes inside.

Sanji is standing at the counter and Zoro just catches Sanji letting go the hand of the woman that he's talking to. Sanji smiles at her and Zoro's heart flutters a little. He groans internally, this is not the time for that kind of wishful thinking. He'd already decided that pursuing that kind of thing was pointless. Anyway it wouldn't mean anything if Sanji didn't forgive him, would it?

Sanji looks up to see who has come into the diner, but when he sees that it's Zoro his expression grows dark and his eyes narrow.

"What the fuck do you want you shitty swordsman?" Sanji growls at him. Zoro grits his teeth and lets that pass, he owes Sanji more than a few free insults. Zoro's hand tightens a little on the record that he's got hidden behind his back and his heart clenches a little too, he doesn't want to screw this up.

"I came to apologise." He says, getting closer to the counter.

"Well you can-" Sanji starts to argue but Zoro talks over him, if he doesn't get this apology out then this exchange could well devolve into an argument and that's not what he came here for at all.

"I didn't mean to laugh at you, or to not take you seriously. I know that you telling me was a big thing and I completely screwed that up and broke your trust by reacting like I did and saying what I did. I'm really sorry." He says earnestly and that at least has stopped Sanji talking.

"I can't... I'm not going to lie and say that I agree with what you claim, but I have to admit that I'm not as sure as I was a few days ago. Either way it doesn't matter, it's important to you and that's what matters. I know that this isn't much, and I'm not trying to buy your forgiveness or anything, but I wanted to give you this. A peace offering I guess." He adds and holds out the record in its cardboard sleeve.

"Zoro..." Sanji says and he doesn't look angry any more, he looks surprised.

"I'm really sorry." Zoro repeats.

Sanji looks at the record and his mouth twitches into an amused smile. It's 'You can't always get what you want' by the Rolling Stones.

"That song, huh? Real funny." The blond says, but he sounds more amused than irritated.

"I'm... going to go. I'm not going to give you this and then hang out here so that you feel like you have to forgive me, that's your choice and to be honest I wouldn't blame you if you didn't. I know I'd probably find it hard to." He admits, still holding the record out. Sanji hasn't taken it yet and Zoro considers just putting it down on the counter and walking out. Before he does that though Sanji reaches out and takes it, their fingers brushing together as he does so.

"I'm going to go. I'll come back, maybe in a few days. If you still want me around then you can tell me, if not then..." Zoro hesitates there. He really doesn't want to stop coming here. Sanji has changed his life so much and though the blond is pathologically irritating to him he does actually, maybe, kind of... like him. A lot.

"Then I won't bother you again, if that's what you want." He finishes.

Zoro hesitates there for a moment as Sanji stares at him in stunned shock. Zoro shuffles awkwardly for a moment and then holds good on his word. He leaves the diner and though he did what he said his heart feels a little heavy. It hadn't gone badly, Sanji hadn't screamed at him and thrown things at his head, but it hadn't gone well either. He hadn't expected to give Sanji an old record and get his forgiveness but he had wanted it.

Zoro is two steps out onto the street when Sanji bursts out of the restaurant after him. Zoro turns and looks at him in surprise.

"You're an asshole but... I don't think that you meant to be. And this is a lot more than anyone else has done after reacting like that. And I guess you weren't as awful as the other few people that I've told." Sanji says a little grudgingly.

"That's not really a good thing. I'm not aiming to be the least worst person, I wanted to be a good person and I screwed it up. You don't need to sugar-coat that for me." Zoro says with a shrug and Sanji laughs a little.

"It's okay, I forgive you. And this was pretty thoughtful, even if it's a stupid joke." Sanji says with a smile, looking down at the record that contains that stupid Rolling Stones song that he keeps insisting that Sanji is obsessed with.

"You forgive me?" He asks hopefully.

"Do I have to repeat myself?" Sanji huffs, resting one hand on his hip and looking a little less pleased.

"No, no. I'm just... thank you." Zoro replies and feels the smile spreading on his face. Sanji has forgiven him!

"You're thank you?" the other man snorts and Zoro rolls his eyes. Sanji's forgiven him alright, he's gone back to being a smartass to him.

"You can have a drink if you like. I know that you've probably got somewhere else to be, you probably didn't plan on hanging around here after that big gesture." Sanji says a little awkwardly and Zoro lights up inside.

"I actually have a match tonight so I do have to get home and..." Zoro trails off and squints at Sanji, was that just luck or...

Sanji flashes him a smug little smile and Zoro isn't sure if this is Sanji proving himself or just jerking him around. Possibly both.

"So, do you want a drink or not, idiot?" The cook asks, actually reaching out and poking him in the chest.

"As long as it's not coffee." Zoro answers with a smile.

"Damn, you caught my devious attempt to make you lose your half of the bet. Come on in then." Sanji chuckles and makes his way into the diner, holding the door open behind him as he goes in so that Zoro can catch it and follow him.

Sanji looks at the record with a smile that he probably doesn't know that he's making. He secrets the record away somewhere in the shelves under the register. He then makes his way into the back parts of the kitchen and Zoro can hear a few pans clanking back there as well as other kitchen noises. Zoro supposes that Sanji also has to cook for the other patrons in the place.

He's started zoning out and thinking of his match tonight and his opponent when Sanji returns with a cardboard cup full of something. Zoro gives him his full attention and Sanji hands it over.

"Here." The blond says and Zoro takes it gratefully. Sanji doesn't quite let him go and catches his wrist, his warm hands on Zoro's. Sanji bites his lip and looks up from their joined hands to Zoro's eyes. Whatever the cook sees there makes him speak.

"Go get that qualification of yours, okay? If you haven't started by the next time that you come in here then I'll kick your ass." He says, though his voice is slightly too soft to really make that threat stick.

"I'll go and see what I can find." He agrees and Sanji lets him go. Zoro takes a sip of the hot drink and realises that it's not any kind of hot chocolate or tea and certainly not a bet breaking coffee. No, on the contrary the drink is a hot apple cider type thing with a distinct tang of some spice that he thinks might be cinnamon as well as something else that he can't identify. He doesn't care to work out the ingredients though because his mind is on something else. He remembers drinking this in a cold Halloween theme park, he was watching Luffy try to out punch the boxing machine to win a prize which he successfully did. He watched Usopp shoot down every target in an air rifle game and win the largest stuffed toy and Nami somehow cajoling one of the carnival staff into a game of cards which they lost spectacularly at. That's where and when he was when he last drank this exact drink. He looks at the inexplicable Sanji in awe and decides that he really needs to start reconsidering his world views.

"Don't just stand there gaping at me, you've got shit to do, don't you?" Sanji says, mocking him in a way that Zoro is starting to suspect is affectionate.

"Don't I need to pay you though?" Zoro asks, remembering that this is in fact a business.

"Nah, it's on the house. Sentimental moron discount. Paid for with the appropriate amount of grovelling." Sanji answers, waving the idea away.

"Okay then, I'll get going then." Zoro nods and he fights down the urge to lean across the counter and kiss Sanji goodbye. He could do it, but it'd be a stupid thing to do. Zoro has only just been forgiven, he doesn't want to push his luck with something that will surely fail.

"Later." Sanji says instead and with a wave returns to one of his stations in the kitchen and turns a burner on at the stove and puts a pan on it before heading to the fridge. Zoro leaves and smiles into his takeaway cup as he walks home. He should be thinking of his match again but instead his mind is on Sanji. He allows himself a moment or two of weakness to imagine what would have happened if he'd kissed the other man, he pushes aside the probability that it would have gone badly and instead lets himself dream of Sanji reciprocating. He imagines of soft but slightly heat chapped lips against his own and a quiet sigh of happiness between them.

He shakes off the pointless fantasy, even though it makes him feel as warm inside as Sanji's inexplicable drink. By the time he gets home he has finished the drink and his mind is on his match.

He wins it of course.


	6. Chapter 6

Zoro sheathes his swords and he and his opponent bow. It's his fifth competition and so far his win streak has been unbroken. As he heads back to the unlockable locker he sees the familiar flash of blonde hair from the audience and focuses on Sanji. The other man grins and waves at him.

It's become a habit after his matches for him and Sanji to go to the diner and eat together. It's the only time when he actually eats with Sanji instead of just Sanji cooking for him and in all honesty he prefers it.

"You know, I went to the gym the other night. I met up with some of the guys I used to work with and we sparred." Sanji says nonchalantly as he stirs the pot of chilli that he'd actually started cooking long before he left to come to Zoro's match. Apparently this is one of the meals that Sanji used to have as a kid and it's nice for Zoro to get a chance to eat food from Sanji's life instead of his own. He wonders if Sanji touches him again in the future and sees what he needs to eat if he'll end up getting this, where Zoro craves food from Sanji's own past.

"Oh the capoeira thing?" He asks in interest.

"Yes Zoro 'the capoeira thing'. It was nice to get back into it actually. I'm still better than them of course, but it's nice to do it again." Sanji answers him.

"And you say that I have an ego." Zoro snorts, leaning over the counter to look more closely at what Sanji is doing.

"It's not ego if it's true." the cook says smartly.

"That's what I said you and told me that was bullshit!" he argues back indignantly.

"It is in your case. Anyway, maybe we could spar sometime or something." Sanji says to the pot of chilli, decidedly not looking at Zoro.

"I'd like that." Zoro answers honestly, feeling slightly surprised that Sanji offered.

Zoro is always so hungry after his matches, he always puts everything into those fights so afterwards he really needs to refuel. Still, he always does his best to actually appreciate the cook's food instead of just inhaling it Luffy style. Sanji is eating slightly slower, his left hand flicking a toothpick over all of his fingers and then running it back again, the same trick as he did before.

"Still no smoking then? It's been what... four months?" Zoro asks curiously.

"Of course I'm not smoking. Do you think I'm gonna lose the bet that easily? What about you and your coffee then?" Sanji challenges him.

"I'm completely clean, I promise. But it's been this long and you're not using those stupid patches any more, shouldn't your addiction be properly broken now?" he questions. Sanji sighs and puts his spoon down.

"You're not allowed to judge me, but I've been smoking a very long time. Since I was nine. It's a behavioural habit that I'm quitting, the nicotine addiction went ages ago. It's not chemical anymore." Sanji sighs and taps the toothpick on the table.

"Nine?!" Zoro balks in horror. Who lets a nine year old smoke?!

"Hey, I said that you weren't allowed to judge!" Sanji snaps and kicks Zoro painfully in the shin. That'll leave a bruise.

"I didn't agree to that." He points out.

"Still, that's a lot more impressive then that you've stuck it out this long." Zoro adds thoughtfully. Habits are hard things to break, much less ones that aren't that far off of being two decades long.

"Your condescending approval is so appreciated." Sanji tuts and finishes the last bite of his meal. He turns in his booth seat so that he's leaning against the wall, he continues tapping the toothpick.

"Is it getting to you or something? You seem more agitated and irritable than usual." Zoro asks after a moment. It's true, the whole evening Sanji has seemed off but Zoro can't put his finger on why. When they get talking properly Sanji is his normal self, but whenever they lapse into silence Sanji gets this almost melancholic look about him.

"I'm fine." Sanji answers, but Zoro doesn't entirely believe him. He lets it go though, maybe it's a private matter.

When they're both done Zoro takes their bowls to the counter and Sanji rolls his eyes at him again. Sanji could do it himself and he still has to get up to wash them in the sink anyway, but it's a habit from when Zoro's there during the day and it ticks Sanji off a little which makes it well worth doing.

"When is your next match? Maybe we could..." Sanji trails off and looks away, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably.

"Spar afterwards? That sounds great! Do you want me to tell you where it is?" He asks, reaching into his sports bag.

"Oh no, you get the hell away from me with your shitty permanent marker!" Sanji yelps, leaping backwards and Zoro can see that Sanji intends to kick him if he tries to graffiti anything on the cook's person.

Sanji scowls at him but eventually comes closer.

"I guess you have to head off, huh? You've got your shit job in the morning, right?" the blond says with a smirk.

"You're so funny, you need to quit being so smug or else." Zoro threatens, catching Sanji by the front of his chef's whites and hauling him a little closer. He's not actually going to fight him, well, not unless Sanji retaliates. Zoro wouldn't say no to a good fight with the blond and... and he's incredibly close.

Whatever Sanji was about to say seems to be caught in his throat and Zoro regrets his actions. He's made this weird, he reiterates in his mind that Sanji most likely isn't interested. No matter how much he's started to wish otherwise. Lately there's been a lot of hours spent wishing after Sanji, bored moments at his desk wondering what could be and in moments of weakness at night he imagines what he seriously wants. He imagines more of the man than he should for someone who's just his friend.

He lets Sanji go. The other man doesn't move back though and for a second or two Sanji is so close and from the way that Sanji's breath hitches and the way his eyes flicker downwards Zoro is certain that the other man is going to kiss him. Excitement rushes down his spine like lightning and he thinks that if Sanji doesn't lean in and do it then he will, damn the risks. Before he can make that call Sanji steps back, his eyes shut. He breathes in a little sharply and then opens his eyes again. Zoro doesn't know what to make of that.

"I have something for you. I meant to show it to you but it slipped my mind until just now." Sanji says quietly.

"Oh! So do I! I can't believe that I forgot." Zoro says, smacking himself in the forehead and shoving aside that moment which had to be entirely in his head. He's reading into things for sure.

"You first then." Sanji says and his voice sounds slightly odd.

Zoro drops his bag onto the counter, ignoring the scathing look that Sanji gives him for it, he fumbles around inside until he finds it. He pulls the envelope out of his bag and hands it to Sanji, unable to keep the beaming grin off of his face. Sanji looks at him a little suspiciously but then slides the already opened flap of it out and removes the neatly folded paper from inside.

Sanji's eyes go wide after a moment, or at least the one that Zoro can see does.

"You got your qualification!" Sanji gasps and if Zoro isn't mistaken that's a pleased and proud smile on his face too.

"Yeah, thanks for the kick in the ass to do it I guess." Zoro admits and takes the envelope back when Sanji hands it to him.

"I'll kick your ass any day of the week." Sanji boasts and Zoro shoves him for it, making the blond snicker in amusement.

"So, what was your thing?" He asks curiously and all of the mirth seems to drain out of the other man. What is up with him?

Sanji goes around the counter and crouches down to get something out of one of the drawers down there. When he comes up he hands Zoro a scrap of newspaper. Zoro frowns at it, wondering what the other man could possibly have to show him, when his eyes run over the paper he sees just what Sanji was giving him. It's a property advertisement for what apparently right now is a dance studio, though almost all of the stuff has been removed because of the place closing down. There are locker rooms, a huge practice space and even a small apartment above it. Everything about it screams that it would be perfect for his dojo. Sure there's things that he'd have to change obviously but how much luckier could he get?

"How did you find this?" He gasps, looking up from the advert to his friend.

"The newspaper obviously." Sanji answers flatly.

"Yeah but- did you... is this another..." Zoro tries to work out how to phrase something that he still doesn't one hundred percent believe in.

"A psychic thing? I don't think so. I think it's just luck. I've been looking for months now, something you should have been doing too." Sanji points out. Zoro's heart thumps hard in his chest at the idea that Sanji had thought of him every morning when he got the paper and read through the property section just for him.

"Thank you... it looks perfect. I'm going to go see if I can see it tomorrow. This might be it Sanji!" He says, his excitement building.

"Well, you know. Getting you what you need. That's what I'm here for." Sanji says and his voice is doing that sad thing again and Zoro doesn't understand why.

"Thank you!" Zoro repeats again, still staring at the advert as Sanji walks him to the door.

"Good night Zoro." Sanji calls to him and Zoro beams and calls the same back.

On his way home all he can think of for once is his dojo and not Sanji. He can see it now, training kids like his sensei did and running more advanced classes and sessions for the more skilled students. He can really do it, Kuina would be so proud of him!


	7. Chapter 7

Zoro walks around the ex-dance studio and sees everything that it could be, he sees the wood panelling, the tatami on the floor, the students being taught. He can see it all. He tells the estate agent that he wants it and rushes off to the bank to have a meeting. It's surprisingly easy to get them to agree to the mortgage if he sells his current apartment and Zoro sets out doing just that. Because the dojo has a small apartment above it he doesn't have to find somewhere else to live. Sure he has to downsize a bunch of his stuff but it's mostly shit that he bought to compensate for how miserable he was, something that's obvious now. Anyway, having a tonne of stuff that he doesn't need is hardly in keeping with the minimalist and focused ideals of his martial art.

The next two months after that are a whirlwind of bank appointments, estate agent meetings, contracts and then finally setting out the work to make the dojo what it should be. He's headed through his old neighborhood to pick up the right kind of tiles when he sees All Blue. To his shock he realises that he hasn't seen Sanji once since the blond handed him the newspaper cutting that changed his life. On impulse he rushes inside.

Sanji sees alarmed to see him but no less pleased.

"Zoro, what are you doing here?" Sanji asks him as Zoro makes his way to the counter.

"You tell me." He beams and holds out his hand for Sanji. He's still not sure on the whole psychic stuff but he's agreed with himself that Sanji is an exception to whatever rules he has about his belief in the order of things in the universe.

Sanji looks at him a little warily but takes his hand. A slow smile creeps onto Sanji's face.

"Nothing." He says with a smile.

"You don't need anything, you have what you need." Sanji continues, looking at him.

"I bought the place, I'm living there now and fixing it up in every spare minute I've got. I quit my job yesterday too. Two weeks and I'll be doing what I dreamed of, thanks to you." He says excitedly as Sanji lets go of his hands.

"You just needed a kick in the right direction is all. And that's what I'm here for, it's what you ordered off of the menu." Sanji says with a shrug.

"Oh, shit, I have to go get these tiles before I forget." He exclaims and turns towards the door.

"Bye Zoro." Sanji says in a strained voice.

"Bye Sanji!" Zoro replies cheerfully and leaves the diner, his mind whirring over thoughts of the inside of his dojo.

At the end of the day he's exhausted and curled up under the sheets on his bed, even though it's only just past nine in the evening. Moving and setting up a dojo is far more tiring than it looks. That's one of the things that he was adamant about keeping from his old place. Even if a lot of his expensive stuff he could let go he still wanted his high quality bed. He spends more time in it than on any other piece of furniture that he owns. His mind drifts to Sanji and about how often he's thought of having the other man in his bed. It's stupid, if Sanji thought of him like that then he would... have... noticed.

His mind flashes over to the blond cook and his mind calls up the moment that night that Sanji gave him the advert about what is now his dojo. He remembers how it felt like Sanji was about to kiss him. But then he remembers look on Sanji's face when he told him about the dojo, and the look he had given him when he said goodbye. It was like he was giving something up. Zoro sits upright in bed and runs his mind over what Sanji had said about people not being attracted to what he does or that his gift drives people away.

Zoro leaps out of bed in a tangle of sheets and nearly falls to the floor. He is far more awake than he was before. He hauls on clothes that aren't dusty from working on the dojo all day and grabs his new keys. He has to come back inside almost instantly because it's raining outside, it's almost as heavy as the day that he met Sanji. He looks inside for an umbrella and his eyes land on the yellow one with the swirl, the one that Sanji gave him. He takes it and leaves the building again. The train ride to the diner feels tense and he keeps going back and forth on whether he's right or not. It could be just a stupid guess, he could be totally wrong.

He really hopes that he's not though.

When he gets to the diner the lights are almost all out, there's just a dim one in the back of the kitchen and Zoro thinks that he can see Sanji moving about back there. He holds his umbrella tight and bangs on the door with a fist. He gets no answer and so after a few moments he does it again.

"We're closed." Comes a muffled voice from within.

Zoro sighs despairingly and bangs on the door again. Finally he hears footsteps coming towards the door and strangely another light moving with it.

"What are you, stupid? I said we're- Zoro..." Sanji trails off, looking at him wide eyed and the cigarette between his lips nearly falling out. Zoro grins and reaches out, plucking it out from between the stunned man's lips.

"I thought you quit." He teases.

"Well, I was stressed." Sanji mutters, hunching his shoulders and not looking at Zoro.

"I didn't expect to see you, what are you doing here?" Sanji asks, still not looking at him. Zoro frowns, he thinks that he might be right about what was weighing so heavily on Sanji.

"You didn't expect me to come back at all, did you?" He guesses.

Sanji looks at him finally and he's got this heartbroken expression on his face but he's defensive about it too, the expression suggests that if Zoro mentions it Sanji will rearrange his face with his smart shoes.

"People never do after I get them what they need." He says and Zoro's heart aches.

"I'm here." He points out.

"If it's for the umbrella then you can keep it." Sanji mutters bitterly and Zoro kicks him in the shin.

"It's not for the fucking umbrella you idiot." Zoro snaps angrily, actually more than a little offended at that idea.

"Then why are you here? You have what you need, that's my job." Sanji says, he's looking right at Zoro and he's clearly begging for Zoro to say something to the contrary. Zoro is more than happy to oblige him.

"Fuck your job. I'm not going to just abandon you because I've got my dream now." he says angrily, his hand tightening dangerously on the umbrella, he hears the wood of the handle creak.

"You've not exactly been around though." Sanji points out and to Zoro's shame Sanji isn't wrong. He could have come and seen him before but he had been so busy, so stressed and so excited that he just hadn't. He's got no excuse for that.

"I'm here now." he says softly and he hears the sharp little intake of breath from Sanji. Zoro hopes to hell that he's right because he's about to start moving towards something that he can't take back or pretend didn't happen.

"You spend all of your time getting people what they need, but what about you?" Zoro asks and Sanji actually laughs at that.

"This is my dream, remember? I have what I need." Sanji replies, raking his hand through his hair.

"What about what you want?" Zoro presses and Sanji startles. Clearly Sanji is remembering their same conversation on the night that Zoro inadvertently mocked him for being psychic. Sanji wants someone, he wants someone who loves him back. At least that's what he said then.

"Doesn't that stupid song that you think I'm obsessed with have the answer for that? You don't always get what you want." Sanji says wryly, looking away from Zoro and leaning against the doorframe.

"I am not singing that song at you, you can't bait me into it, shit cook." Zoro says grumpily and Sanji laughs quietly at that. Zoro doesn't know if Sanji had been trying to bait him into singing it but he's sure as shit that the man would have laughed his ass off at him.

"The things that you want are important too. Stop thinking about everyone else so much." Zoro sighs.

He doesn't give the cook time to reply. He drops the umbrella carelessly at his side and when Sanji looks back at him to say something about it Zoro leans in and closes the gap between them. His heart feels like it freezes and he hopes to hell that he's right. He kisses Sanji, gently and carefully in case he's wrong. Sanji makes this desperate kind of noise and then all of a sudden his arms are wrapped around the back of Zoro's neck and Sanji is kissing him back fiercely. Zoro wants to bash his own head into the doorframe for talking himself out of this for so long.

"Zoro... Zoro is this... is this serious or are you just..." Sanji gasps, leaning back a little and breaking the kiss.

"I really want this Zoro but if you're just-" Sanji cuts himself off again, but Zoro can fill in the blanks. Sanji wants to know if he means this, if he's serious, he wants to know that Zoro isn't intending on leaving the moment that things get tough or if Sanji kicks his ass about not doing what he should be.

"I'm serious, I want this. Weird impossible psychic stuff, short temper and all." He insists and Sanji kisses him so hard that it almost hurts.

"I want this, I want this too so badly. I thought I was never going to see you again." Sanji says in between kisses. Zoro grins, he really can't miss this opportunity.

"Well, you know... you do owe me a meal from losing out on that bet so really-" Zoro starts but Sanji claps his hand over Zoro's mouth.

"No, that's it, you're terrible. Go away, I don't know why I missed you, you- AUGH!" Sanji yelps and yanks his hand away. Zoro is pleased that licking Sanji's palm got him free.

"Shut up." He says with a smile and kisses the blond again.

It's good to get what you want.


End file.
